 Ever since Al Gore "invented" the internet, people have been figuring out ways to make money from it. That's part of capitalism and there is nothing wrong with looking for ways to meet the demands of consumers. The internet has provided many ways to generate revenue that we couldn't have imagined before 1994. One of the ways is called "cybersquatting." This is the word that has been coined to describe someone that has acquired a web domain with the hopes that someone will want that domain in the future. It's a fairly inexpensive gamble and can be highly profitable. As the internet has grown the availability of domain names has changed dramatically. There are several important considerations when choosing a domain for your business or organization:
1. Is it memorable? Use the KISS (keep it simple silly) method for best results. 2. Don't get too cute. Using a creative spelling of your name can often work against you as generic searches typically don't include words spelled outside of the norm. 3. Does the name reflect what you do or the product you sell? Unless you have an unlimited budget for marketing to drive traffic to your site, it is usually best to use a domain name that helps Google find you by including one or two keywords that either explain what you sell, or where you sell it. 4. What if the domain I want is already owned by a cybersquatter? Like anything else, everything is negotiable. Your web designer may be able to negotiate a price or suggest alternative domain names that will satisfy your requirements. If you have your heart set on a domain that is already owned, you may have to pony up or keep an eye on the domain to see if the owner loses interest in it. 5. Think about variations of your domain name that you might want to acquire that will forward to your website. Many businesses have multiple domains. Tracking which domains are being used to find you can be useful in determining your overall marketing strategy. Who knows, someone might want to purchase one of your domains in the future!  A business owner asks, "Can I get more traffic to my website without getting a new website?"
Possibly! Are you currently receiving enough new clients through your website to keep you busy? If yes, then you probably don't need a new website to continue your normal operations. However, your website may be missing out on key tools and resources that will improve the experience for customers, and decrease the amount of time you need to spend with customers. If you are not currently receiving enough new clients, then it doesn't matter how much traffic we send to your site, we don't know that your website will work when customers get there. Huh? The process of converting people to customers online is this: 1. Get people to your website. 2. Provide a call to action (call, sign up, register, enroll, schedule, book, buy now). 3. Follow up with those who take action (close the deal, provide the service, send the product). If you have a website already, but you're not getting customers from it, then you need a new website. Why? -The current website was not built for SEO and/or -The current website was not built with a solid offer and call to action We are great at building websites that climb the ranks of Google. We are also great at building out a reasonable call to action that will get your traffic excited about being your customer. We built one site that received more appointment requests in the first 48 hours of its launch, than it had received in the previous 5 years combined. We don't like wasting time on things that aren't going to work. Providing SEO services as an afterthought, without ensuring that your website will bring in customers is a disservice to you. We want to build a longterm relationship with your business. We do that by providing services that work! Call 775-544-6612 to wake up your website and wake up your business!  The focus at Waking Girl Web Design is to 1) Wake up your website and 2) Wake up your business. Usually we have to also 3) Wake up your customers. There's nothing like a good old-fashioned menu bar to lull an Internet Junkie to sleep: Home, Services, About Us, Cont--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. We utilize a navigation structure that is jarring, intriguing and sometimes alarming. Why? Because it wakes people up.
This is wild, tell me more! Now, nobody will wake up if they don't get to your website, so we also have to 4) Consider the Google gods. Google occasionally relies on a good old-fashioned menu bar, but Google also looks for key words in your links. No one is doing a Google Search for "home services about us contact." No one (ok, except us--the search brought up a broad bit of nothing). What ARE people searching for? How about: YOUR COMPANY NAME instead of Home ACTION WORD instead of Services INTRIGUING WORD instead of About or YOUR CALL TO ACTION instead of all of the above and Contact is just fine :) [or Connect, Reach Out, Engage, Talk] When we first started building websites (in the 1990s) the human brain could handle 4 to 6 choices at a time. We fought hard to keep our websites' navigations in that 6 or fewer framework. Now, our brains have gotten OVERWHELMED with the constant incoming media, and are pleased with 1, 2 or 3 choices. 1 2 or 3 I talk to clients daily who want to complicate their websites, while the big tech companies are getting sleeker. I was shocked and validated the first time I used Square Cash and had 0 options. All I could do was follow their little maze of forms and buttons. There were no choices. There was only moving forward in their chosen path. And I trusted the process and sent money through their brilliant email-only system seconds later. The future is now. Customers trust the web more today than ever before. They don't need to read 17 pages to determine if they're going to buy your product or schedule an appointment. They need to see a handful of reviews, and then you have to open the door and make it easy: one intuitive non-choice at a time. But people have asked for my About page! Great! Ok, we can still have tons of content, and that can include your pithy bio. Let's create a hidden blog page that runs in the background of your site, spitting out content when it's called on through a Google Search or from the depths of the Inner Virgo of your website. Hrmm, that seems anti-climactic when you give me what I want. Why does this feel odd? Because what you really want is not an About Me page. You want an ABOUT YOU page. That's right! The business owner should be asking about the NEW CLIENT, not spouting out hobbies, facts, and degrees. Wanna know the number one thing that makes someone decide to BUY from you? Feeling validated. That's it. Not your service description, not your logo, not your pricing*, and certainly not your About page. It's your ability to listen and validate the needs of your customer base that will make them call you, email you, text you, Facebook you, want you, need you, review you. So you may have an industry where an About Us page is somehow validating to the customer, but I'm seeing higher conversions on pages that engage the customer and demonstrate that the customer is in the right place, and that you can help them. But don't they need to know my certifications and history to know that? No. Your certifications and history just tell us that you went to school and that you may have dabbled in something important once. We don't want your history, we want your NOW. Business trends change every 3 months; we don't care what you did 3 years ago. Are you #validating NOW? How to demonstrate validation on your website:
Is your customer in pain? Imagine how much more pain they'll be in after reading mountains of information. Make it easy; they're in pain! Is your customer in panic? Give them the call to action RIGHT THERE and EVERYWHERE. Is your customer a busy parent? Make it easy to come back to your information later with an email reminder or Facebook notice. Is your customer a business owner? Give them the prices and a phone number that is answered EVERY time. Do you want to be notified of new ways to wake up your website, wake up your business? Get on our Like List! Want a FREE Site Navigation Review? Leave your website URL in the comments below! |
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